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soldant, I've had a couple of people have an issue with one of the games I am working on with win8. I also remember cactus said something similar at gdc.

I'm using GM Studio here on Win8 with no problems, so I don't know what the issue is. GM8 before it was also fine IIRC.
GM7 I'm not too sure about.

Nalano's Law - As an online gaming discussion regarding restrictions grows longer, the probability of a post likening the topic to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea approaches one.
Soldant's Law - A person will happily suspend their moral values if they can express moral outrage by doing so.

So I just quickly skimmed through this thread but I have a couple of questions regarding Windows 8. I am in the process of assembling a new gaming PC. What is the consensus regarding Windows 8 and gaming. Will most contemporary games (e.g. Steam, GamersGate) run on Windows 8 without issue? I believe that GOG.com announced that their entire catalog is 8 compatible so I seem set with my GOG library. Also do programs like Fraps run decently and how are most drivers?

Sorry for the barrage of questions, but I am mainly interested in gaming compatibility. I can deal with the rest: I can learn to live with most any interface, I can unlearn/relearn what I need to to become proficient with working within Windows 8, and so on. I am just hoping for a stable system with some hopeful performance gains that will not conflict with my games or gaming activities.

While I play a lot of indies, I don't really play a lot of obscure games, or freeware. Though I do frequently mod my games utilizing mods from various sources...has anyone had any trouble with modding on Windows 8?

If it ran on Windows 7, it will run on Windows 8 as a general rule (exceptions are rare, and usually because of bad practices). I haven't had any issues with things running under Windows 8. If your games worked on Win7 they'll work on Win8. Stem runs fine. Mods are totally irrelevant to the OS so no problems there. FRAPS is fine. Drivers are about equal to Win7, there's no leap backwards like there was with Vista (since Vista set the groundwork for future versions). Some obscure hardware may not have support depending on what it but again this is an exception.

I've been running Win8 since day zero, never had an issue with compatibility save for the very early days when some apps got confused over what browser to load - Steam used to be unable to cope with having both a Metro UI and standard desktop browser but this got patched ages ago.

Nalano's Law - As an online gaming discussion regarding restrictions grows longer, the probability of a post likening the topic to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea approaches one.
Soldant's Law - A person will happily suspend their moral values if they can express moral outrage by doing so.

Thanks soldant, this is really helpful. I might just take the plunge with Windows 8 especially due to the low cost of entry this time around. Plus as long as I can keep my older PC running I will have a Windows 7 machine if that is even necessary.

What is the consensus regarding Windows 8 and gaming. Will most contemporary games (e.g. Steam, GamersGate) run on Windows 8 without issue? I believe that GOG.com announced that their entire catalog is 8 compatible so I seem set with my GOG library. Also do programs like Fraps run decently and how are most drivers?

I was dual-booting Win 7 and Win 8 for a while on my games rig, eventually I ditched Windows 7 entirely. 8 is a little bit faster, and it all seems cleaner.

I have yet to find a game that will not run under windows 8. The only piece of any kind of software I've found that doesn't run under windows 8 is ATI Mobility Modder software, which is for modifying ATI drivers so that they work on old mobility cards. Even then, I found a patch that let me run it ok - it just wouldn't run out of the box.

Except... it is fast and it does appear to run some games that don't run under Win 7. But the Start Menu is totally misplaced on a desktop in my opinion. The workflow associated with operating in the Start Menu and any of the apps just feels totally inadequate for any level of productivity.

I use Classic Shell and I'm pretty much happy as larry though. But that is not an excuse for Win8 and the horrible (in my opinion) start screen.

Bought a new laptop a month or two back (I am going to be away from my desktop for a few months, my old laptop is getting somewhat dated, I sold a winRT tablet I got at a conference, I want new shinies, etc) and decided to not reformat it immediately on the grounds that it actually didn't contain much crapware and I have never actually not reformatted a laptop the day it arrived in the mail (Lenovo X230 for those interested)

Win8 with the Start Screen: I hate it. While I acknowledge that I might grow to tolerate it, given time, as it stands I can't find the settings I need (it took far too long to figure out how to install optional updates) and it affects my workflow too much. Nay

Win8 with Start8 (Stardock): I love it. Insanely fast boot times (that may be the laptop...), a MUCH better explorer (the file folder opener thingie), and a pretty nice way to browse available wifi networks. Similar to Windows 7 in that it was basically Vista but with all the stuff I like about Windows done better. Yay

In fact, I am very seriously considering doing a reformat of my desktop to put Win8 on, but I'll probably wait until more is known about Win 8.1 or whatever MS is gonna be selling.

Steam: Gundato
PSN: Gundato
If you want me on either service, I suggest PMing me here first to let me know who you are.

NEIN NEIN NEIN NEIN NEIN NEIN NEIN NEIN NEIN NEIN NEIN NEIN NEIN NEIN NEIN NEIN NEIN NEIN NEIN NEIN NEIN NEIN NEIN!!!
I don't have Win 8, but every single time I tried it (4 times in different pc's), it was an awful and the computer froze and stopped working, so i'm not gonna buy/download/install it.

In fact, I am very seriously considering doing a reformat of my desktop to put Win8 on, but I'll probably wait until more is known about Win 8.1 or whatever MS is gonna be selling.

It's effectively a minor upgrade on Win 8, with rumours being that if you have Win8 it'll be free. Think "98SE".

If you hope for a Start menu though it's not coming back, they're just going to add a proper button to show the Start screen as opposed to that horrible corner. What we really need is a button for the Charms bar.

Nalano's Law - As an online gaming discussion regarding restrictions grows longer, the probability of a post likening the topic to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea approaches one.
Soldant's Law - A person will happily suspend their moral values if they can express moral outrage by doing so.

The charm bar and finding settings options (Pain to find Windows Update, Get into my control panel, and the first time just learning how to shut down) were my initial impressions that were rather annoying. But the boot time on a HDD, snappiness and the Tiles, for a HTPC on older hardware (E8500, HD6870), it runs pretty well. Netflix app works great.

I'm more concerned about the publisher hegemony aspect of the Windows Store than I am about the usability thereof. Classic Shell, Start8 et al. fix the latter problem, but there's no simple fix to the former.

Of course, it's not just Microsoft doing this; Apple, Google, Amazon, Valve, Canonical, etc all benefit from being the channel via which people make purchases. If the stuff we're buying wasn't censored, DRMed and/or locked into its ecosystem/codebase of origin, I'd be all for the proliferation of more storefronts. But that's not (usually) the case, unfortunately. GOG and GamersGate are counterexamples, but they're relative rarities in size and frequency.

In my experience across a few dozen unique hardware configurations, Win8 is fine. Classic Shell might be necessary if you're dependent on a desktop usage paradigm, otherwise, not so much.

It's effectively a minor upgrade on Win 8, with rumours being that if you have Win8 it'll be free. Think "98SE".

If you hope for a Start menu though it's not coming back, they're just going to add a proper button to show the Start screen as opposed to that horrible corner. What we really need is a button for the Charms bar.

Meh. Start8 lets me get rid of the Start Screen (and the corner crap that always just sent me to the wrong screen) AND gives me back the Start Menu. Already paid for it, so I don't mind installing it again.

Steam: Gundato
PSN: Gundato
If you want me on either service, I suggest PMing me here first to let me know who you are.

I'm more concerned about the publisher hegemony aspect of the Windows Store than I am about the usability thereof. Classic Shell, Start8 et al. fix the latter problem, but there's no simple fix to the former.

That's funny, I can't see either of those in the Windows Store. Surely someone hasn't managed to find a way of developing and releasing applications for Windows 8 without using the MS storefront that quickly.

Eh? Was it ever implied that that would be the case that you couldn't release apps outside the storefront? Serious question, I'm not sure.

I think he was referring to the "publisher hegemony" part, which some people keep trying to extend to the classic desktop.

Nalano's Law - As an online gaming discussion regarding restrictions grows longer, the probability of a post likening the topic to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea approaches one.
Soldant's Law - A person will happily suspend their moral values if they can express moral outrage by doing so.

I think he was referring to the "publisher hegemony" part, which some people keep trying to extend to the classic desktop.

Hm? Could you expound on that? I must've miscommunicated.

I wasn't commenting on the desktop, I don't think (I'm really tired, so I can't be sure). I was decrying the apparently-increasing "walled-gardens for everyone!" trend among major platform providers. Thank god for the FOSS movement, in other words.

I like the desktop model and dislike siloed data & DRM, but not dogmatically so. If a platform gives you unencumbered access to the tools/media you buy, yay! If you're locked into the company store or your tools/media are permissions nightmares, nay.

This is probably just my version of the common bs-tastic aphorism "they don't make things like they used to", but I can't help but look at the progress of Android & Google Play, iOS, Amazon, Win8 & RT, the various social networks, etc, only to react by shaking my fist and crying, "standards, interoperability, USABILITY!". In the end, though, I'm drowned out by all the capitalism.

I've been using it for about 6 months and I think it's pretty awesome. The only real downside is that the app store is pretty rubbish, but that might not be a downside after all (see below).

The start screen is great if you give it a chance. Performance is nice. Driver support is nice. The explorer and file copy are lovely. The install is very easy and quick. Lots of minor tweaks that make things better. It looks a lot better.
I can't say that I use metro that much, but I use the news and email apps, and it's great to have a nice dashboard of information when you boot up, even if you immediately go to the desktop.
I can't really say that I can see many downsides. Even my wife, who doesn't know much about PCs at all, adjusted to it in about 3 days.

Originally Posted by roryok

The only piece of any kind of software I've found that doesn't run under windows 8 is ATI Mobility Modder software, which is for modifying ATI drivers so that they work on old mobility cards.

Off topic, but OOOOH!
I'd given up on ever being able to get updated drivers for my laptop's ATI card. That said, so far the windows 8 reference drivers have been working fine. So i'll bookmark that and for now I won't touch anything.

Originally Posted by Jambe

I'm more concerned about the publisher hegemony aspect of the Windows Store than I am about the usability thereof. Classic Shell, Start8 et al. fix the latter problem, but there's no simple fix to the former.

This was my concern. But thanks to microsoft being crap at things like online stores, and there being no decent things on there, my concern has greatly decreased.
I feel like people's concerns about the interface and people's concerns about the store (eg: Gabe Newell) got conflated into some giant internet viewpoint that win 8 was awful. I've had people who know nothing about it tell me that it's awful. I tend to find most people who hate it haven't actually really tried it.